Advice on Good US Retailers

[Shaun Stuart]

I am visiting Orlando in April and would like to take advantage of the cheaper US deals on Pocket PCs and memory - Are there any retailers I should try or are there any I should avoid ?

Specifically I am looking for an ipaq 1910 and some SD memory

[dh]

In Orlando you will find all the big retailers such as, CompUSA, Bestbuyand Circuit City.

All of them will have a reasonable selection of PPC, I've seen the 1910 everywhere. Don't expect too much in the way of knowledge from the sales people at any of them, although sometimes you will come across a good person. Still since you already know just what you want, no problem.

I've always found that the best deals on SD and CF memory can be found on-line, rather than the retail stores. I'm currently waiting on an SD card I ordrered from Dell so I looked round the stores just yesterday to see if they had anything close to the price. No chance! At CompUSA a SanDisk 256MB SD card is $80.00. The price at Dell is $61.00 with an additional $10.00 rebate.

You also sometimes get pretty good deals at the office stores Staples and OfficeMax.

Don't spend too much time shopping though, there's a ton of cool things to do in Orlando!!

[SassKwatch]

In Orlando you will find all the big retailers such as, CompUSA, Bestbuyand Circuit City.......Don't expect too much in the way of knowledge from the sales people at any of them, although sometimes you will come across a good person.

For whatever reason, it seems to me you generally get one of 2 types of salespeople in these places.......1) the 19 yr old uber geek who can talk tech w/ you all day long but is frequently lacking in customer service skills, or 2) the 40 yr old w/ good customer service skills but who's technical knowledge seems limited to whatever training the store has provided.

Yes, there are certainly exceptions to the above on both ends of the spectrum, 'but'..........

[Shaun Stuart]

Thanks for the tips - I am used to dealing with poor sales staff who know less about the products than their customers - it sounds is if the large retailers in the US suffer from the same problems I have experienced in the UK concerning sales staff.

[Shaun Stuart]

I've always found that the best deals on SD and CF memory can be found on-line, rather than the retail stores. I'm currently waiting on an SD card I ordrered from Dell so I looked round the stores just yesterday to see if they had anything close to the price. No chance! At CompUSA a SanDisk 256MB SD card is $80.00. The price at Dell is $61.00 with an additional $10.00 rebate.

Even at $80 this is a much better price than in the UK. The lowest price I have seen is $178 for a 256MB SD Card and that was online. The biggest PC retailer in the UK (PC World) is still selling 128mb SD cards for $103.

[spursdude]

Don't forget to see if you can get stuff of of Amazon.com... you didn't mention where you live, but if they don't have Amazon in your area, you should definitely look into it while you're in the US. The prices are really good sometimes.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Don't forget to see if you can get stuff of of Amazon.com... you didn't mention where you live, but if they don't have Amazon in your area, you should definitely look into it while you're in the US. The prices are really good sometimes.
I don't know what kind of price variations there are betweek Amazon UK and Amazon US, but checking out the internet prices here might be a good idea.

If you know the hotel that you're staying at (or wherever you're staying), you may want to start surfing now and see if you can get the item delivered to you at your temporary address while in Orlando.

[dh]

I've always found that the best deals on SD and CF memory can be found on-line, rather than the retail stores. I'm currently waiting on an SD card I ordrered from Dell so I looked round the stores just yesterday to see if they had anything close to the price. No chance! At CompUSA a SanDisk 256MB SD card is $80.00. The price at Dell is $61.00 with an additional $10.00 rebate.

Even at $80 this is a much better price than in the UK. The lowest price I have seen is $178 for a 256MB SD Card and that was online. The biggest PC retailer in the UK (PC World) is still selling 128mb SD cards for $103.

You will be happy then Shaun. :lol:

Were do you live in the UK? I grew up in Harwich in Essex before moving to the US in 1990.

[PetiteFlower]

If you don't have a US credit card though you might not be able to order through the US site. Not sure, but it's possible so heads up :)

Besides, I still think there's something to be said for being able to go to a store, hold something in your hands before you buy it, and then take it home with you that day!

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

If you don't have a US credit card though you might not be able to order through the US site. Not sure, but it's possible so heads up :)
Most people I've encountered (in the multiple countries I've worked) at least have Visa cards which is all that is required by most online sites. As long as his shipping address is in the US, I *think* he should be alright. My only concern would be that most of the online forms ARE designed with the US resident in mind, so entering the billing address correctly (if it's a foreign address) may not be completely trivial.

Besides, I still think there's something to be said for being able to go to a store, hold something in your hands before you buy it, and then take it home with you that day!
For most electronics, I agree. Though he said he's looking to buy PPC(s) and/or memory cards. If he already knows the PPC model that he wants (and assuming he's seen it), then there probably isn't too much value in going to see it again. There definitely isn't any value holding a memory card in your hands.

Of course, there's great value in the "window shopping" that will undoubtedly occur as he's looking for those two items in an actual store. I don't know if I could ever just walk into a Best Buy or CompUSA without the mandatory "browsing". :D

[Shaun Stuart]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I live in Rugby which is a town 85 miles north of London in the UK. I shop quite often on-line so have tried Amazon and various other etailers. The pricing issue can get really frustrating living in the UK. For example:

Amazon.com sell 256mb SD for $69.99 but will not ship to the UK.
Amazon.co.uk dont even carry 256mb but the biggest card they sell is 128mb which is a massive $150.

Twice the price for half the memory from the same company?? While I understand the UK market may be smaller and that shipping costs will effect the price I am sure you would agree this is a ridiculous mark up.

For those of you not lucky enough to be visiting the US this year I normally buy my memory from a company in singapore who ship to the UK http://www.doml.com.sg/index.asp

They sell A 256mb SD card at $120 including shipping -
Not as cheap as the US but much better than UK prices.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

The pricing issue can get really frustrating living in the UK.
Oh, I certainly know what you're speaking about. I've worked in many cities that I would consider expensive (San Francisco, Tokyo, Munich, etc.), but London dwarfs them all when it comes to overall pricing of goods IMO.

I went to a modest dinner with my boss while out there a couple months ago and when the check came back, I thought I'd have to pull out a second mortgage on my home!!